Some late model-modified-stock car thoughts following an eventful weekend across the Tri-State area:

— Have you noticed what driver has held the No.1 position the longest this season in any of the the three Stevie Dirt Regional Rankings charts? Mark Burgtorf? Nope. Michael Long? Nah. If your guess was Honest Abe Huls you’d be 100 percent correct.

Huls is under attack from about a half-dozen challengers, but he’s held the top spot for seven straight weeks and shows no sign of weakening.

— Congrats to modified driver Wyatt Lantz, the “Augusta Assassin,” who won features on both IMCA and UMP tracks over the weekend. Lantz is a nice guy who struggled in 2008 and has blown three motors already in 2009. He was due for some good luck.

— Two late model drivers who are having nice, solid seasons and might be overlooked by many: No. 3 Lonnie Bailey, No. 6 Keith Pratt.

— Someone needs to make a run at Josh Foster pretty soon or the modified rankings will simply become a race to see who can finish No. 2.

— A couple of stock car drivers who have quietly shifted into second gear without much fanfare: No. 15 Jerry Jansen, No. 12 Andrew Griffin.

STEVIE DIRT REGIONAL RANKINGS: YEAR 2

The following rankings are based on feature performances at Quincy, West Burlington and Donnellson for late models; Quincy, West Burlington, Donnellson and Moberly for modifieds; and Quincy, Donnellson and West Burlington for stock cars. Points are earned on a 25-20-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 scale.

LATE MODELS

Most of the focus Sunday night was on the near-blanket feature finish of Tom Goble, Justin Reed and Lonnie Bailey, but sneaking in fourth was Mark Burgtorf, who picked up 12 big points to further pad his advantage.

4 stars: Tom Goble, whose feature victory was his first “official” late model checkered flag. He was awarded a first place in 2008 at 34 Raceway in West Burlington after the “winner” was later disqualified.

3 stars: Aaron Brocksieck for winning his first stock car feature. He was the 2008 hobby stock champ and made the jump to stocks this season.

2 stars: Hobby stocker Mike Wiley gets one star for winning his first-ever feature and one star for providing everyone with a good chuckle. After a late-race caution, Wiley pulled into the infield while leading the race, thinking it had ended. Officials allowed him to rejoin the field — at the front.

1 star: Flagman Steve Blickhan, whose right arm is probably ready to fall off today after a season-high 27 cautions. And that number does not include another half dozen or so yellows for drivers jumping restarts.

Comments (1)

Last night was great!!! Way to go Wyatt Lantz he FIANLLY got a win down here at the bullring. Great to see it! Last night was one crazy night but some people got to take advantage of it! Hopefully they can work on the track a little more, it was looking like a few of the turns where becoming a little “bumpy” Reguardless what a awesome night of racing!! Congrats again to Wyatt, after all those cautions he was still rocking and he claimed that flag! I don’t think anyone was going to get it from him, he had his eye on the prize lol….